For many independent films that are created to try and earn a buck in theaters, there is no greater death knell than the harsh MPAA rating of NC-17, which almost guarantees low box office returns. But Lucky Bastard director Robert Nathan (Law & Order) and his co-screenwriter and producer Lukas Kendall actively sought out the harsh rating to keep their found-footage adult entertainment revenge story as raw as they needed it to be, already knowing that younger viewers shouldn’t be a part of their audience. CAVU Pictures recently penetrated the public consciousness with the film’s red band trailer, and if you thought this was going to blow all other found footage flicks out of the water…you might want to start draining the pool yourself.

The story is nearly as simple and straightforward as your average adult entertainment video. The Lucky Bastard website is run by a guy named Mike, played by Don McManus (Grand Piano) in full sleaze-mode, who runs a contest for a lucky (and presumably horny) viewer to film a session with the website’s top performer, Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue), who doesn’t want to do it until she’s given more money. The house where the videos are filmed is equipped with loads of security cameras, so everything can be witnessed; plus, there’s a cameraman there filming everything else for whatever reason. And what sounded like a bad idea to begin with gets a lot worse once it’s understood the contest winner Dave (Go’s Jay Paulson) has quite a few mental problems that humiliation just doesn’t mesh with.

I’d love to have high expectations for this flick, as I am definitely down with cheap horror, but there isn’t anything particularly memorable or exceedingly different about the trailer, via DreadCentral. I mean, it’s obvious from the very first image of Dave’s oddly parted hair that he’s a maniac, and there aren’t exactly a ton of avenues this story can go down. He’s going to get embarrassed by something penis-related and he’s going to flip out and start killing people. I appreciate the multitude of blurbs shown from Ain’t It Cool News and JoBlo, but I have to wonder what kind of trick and twists will be written into this thing that keeps it from being entirely generic.

Perhaps I’m just being more judgmental towards this movie for adamantly sticking to its NC-17 rating and not showing me anything that particularly deserves it. I’m really hoping the rating isn’t just in reference to a dick-shot and fifteen seconds of hardcore gore. I’m going to need more than that. Like at least three dick-shots. Ba-dum-chee.

Have your popcorn and lube handy this spring, when Lucky Bastard will hit theaters. It’ll begin with a limited NYC run on February 14 before expanding to L.A. on March 7 and additional cities over the next month or two. Below you’ll find a new poster for the film that is aesthetically fitting. I’m noting the time markers on both video feeds to see if they match up to the feature itself. Somebody remind me of this when the film hits VOD.